The Art of Elimination

Last November I had a chance to listen to Rob Bell share during his “Drops Like Stars” tour. One of the elements that he shared involved the Art of Elimination. The Art of Elimination is about removing those things that are not at the essence of what is important for that moment. It’s about removing the trivial, the non-essentials, when you’re faced with the reality of a situation.

Household chores and picking up the dry cleaning take a back seat of importance when someone first hears the doctor say the words cancer or terminal.

Soccer practice and projects at work lose their facade of importance when your spouse tells you they want a divorce.

The car wreck that takes your friend or loved one has the terrible power to eliminate the clutter of your schedule. You drop everything and focus your entire attention on that one thing that quickly takes up your entire view.

It doesn’t always have to be a life altering instance that creates the need for elimination. In fact, most of the art of elimination takes place when life is at its best. It’s easy to eliminate when drastic problems are on your radar; it’s harder when all the seas around you are calm. The trivial, the “extra-curriculars”, all those things that are at the fringe of importance can slide themselves up the ladder of importance and we begin to lose our order of priority.

I’m working on the art of elimination, removing the clutter and paring my attention down to the best and most important part of who I am and who God’s called me to be. There’s some clutter that I’ve moved from the fringe to the inner circle of my attention and it’s time to do some reordering. It’s time to practice the art of elimination.